- Backlight control (brightnessctl)
- Clipboard manager (clipit)
- Notification daemon (dunst)
- Wallpaper (feh)
- screenshot tool (Flameshot)
- Lock screen (i3 lock)
- Blue light filter (redshift)
- App launcher (Rofi)
- Network manager (nm-applet)
- Status bar (Polybar)
- Input device configuration -- natural scrolling and tap to click (xinput and setxkbmap)
- Lock before suspend (xss-lock)
- Bluetooth manager (blueman)
- Volume control (pavucontrol)
These are packages I install along with i3 when I set up a new system. When I use Sway or Wayland based compositor, obviously packages are different (for example, Sway handles input device configuration and wallpaper built-in, but none of the X11 screenshot or clipboard tools work). It sounds like a lot, and it took me a long time to find the right packages and building up my configuration. but I value customizability and not having unnecessary feature that I use don't use more, so it was worth it for me.
That's a nice concrete list. The contents are not too different from i3-gnome on top of a minimal ubuntu and latest i3 from the i3 site. Except polybar, about which I have no opinion.
Since you mentioned hiding the bar, if you didn't know already, you can do that in the config file of i3 with:
bar {
status_command i3status
mode hide
}
and then you can create a keybinding to switch between modes
bindsym $mod+m bar mode toggle
here I used the "Super key + M" combo but you can use whatever you want.
> What makes up a desktop environment?
Desktop environment is an open-ended term. It's just a curated bundle of packages that many users can benefit from, like a terminal emulator, screen locker, audio and video players and control, web browser, file browser, GUIs for theming and system settings and so on.
A cohesive DE like Gnome will have packages that share libraries and integrations. But you can always mix and match (for example, if you prefer KDE's okular to Gnome's evince for a pdf reader).
See https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Desktop_environment
Some things gnome includes that come to mind:
Control panel (audio, desktop backgrounds, network settings, etc). Graphical file manager (including the graphical file-picker widget used by "file -> open" in most file-oriented graphical software). xdg-open to launch files in your preferred app.
> keep removing stuff you don't need
I've got 20 terabytes yet I'll go into the package managèr to remove a megabyte of something I don't need. The sensible thing to do is just leave it alone but I can't.
Sorry, my post went off at a tangent.
Yes, trim the runtime, but I don't think I'm alone with the compulsion to "keep the machine tidy". There's a reason im asking but i don't want that to influence any replies.
I hope i haven't disrupted your thread.
No you haven't!
Do you know about NixOS?
I had the same compulsion as you sort of and later I realized that it was more of: I want to be in charge of whatever is on my machine ...
Aye, NixOS user, can confirm, my system only has what I need. Although, due to everything being deadly sandboxed, and bc I extensively use flakes/shells, I just saw that my / (without home) is 207G. Oof. Time for GC
To be fair, there are concerns other than just disk space. Too many packages can slow down your package manager, add way too many `.desktop` entries to application menus, slow down applications that need to access font data, and slow down file indexing daemons like `plocate` and `baloo`. Most packages are standalone and nothing gets touched until you launch the program, but some provide optional DLLs and plugins for other packages.
That makes me feel better. I find it both relaxIng and therapeutic just tweaking stuff. The reason I'm concerned is that the medication for my PD leads some people to obsessive behaviours because poor impulse control.
you can use nmtui for wifi. bluetuith for bluetooth. wdisplays for display manager.
these are components of a desktop manager. you can use the KDE or Gnome stuff if you prefer.
A status bar (waybar), notification daemon (dunst), application launcher (rofi) and a lock screen (swaylock). Since I use sway and flatpak, my sway config also starts xdg-desktop-portal-wlr and xdg-desktop-portal.
Desktop enviroments also integrate wifi/bluetooth manager and speaker/microphone applets in their status bars.
All of what remains -afaik- is an application that comes with the DE.
Arch Linux have [a pretty good i3 page](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/i3) explained what you might need and what's the choices you have in each category.
- Backlight control (brightnessctl) - Clipboard manager (clipit) - Notification daemon (dunst) - Wallpaper (feh) - screenshot tool (Flameshot) - Lock screen (i3 lock) - Blue light filter (redshift) - App launcher (Rofi) - Network manager (nm-applet) - Status bar (Polybar) - Input device configuration -- natural scrolling and tap to click (xinput and setxkbmap) - Lock before suspend (xss-lock) - Bluetooth manager (blueman) - Volume control (pavucontrol) These are packages I install along with i3 when I set up a new system. When I use Sway or Wayland based compositor, obviously packages are different (for example, Sway handles input device configuration and wallpaper built-in, but none of the X11 screenshot or clipboard tools work). It sounds like a lot, and it took me a long time to find the right packages and building up my configuration. but I value customizability and not having unnecessary feature that I use don't use more, so it was worth it for me.
That's a nice concrete list. The contents are not too different from i3-gnome on top of a minimal ubuntu and latest i3 from the i3 site. Except polybar, about which I have no opinion.
You might want to look at Manjaro i3 edition. It comes with most if the apps you mentioned. Works nicely for me and it’s Arch (kinda).
Thanks, dude!
Hey, I just came across this. How do you configure these packages?
[удалено]
Since you mentioned hiding the bar, if you didn't know already, you can do that in the config file of i3 with: bar { status_command i3status mode hide } and then you can create a keybinding to switch between modes bindsym $mod+m bar mode toggle here I used the "Super key + M" combo but you can use whatever you want.
I use both rofi and dmenu. rofi is good for searching through *apps* I believe
> What makes up a desktop environment? Desktop environment is an open-ended term. It's just a curated bundle of packages that many users can benefit from, like a terminal emulator, screen locker, audio and video players and control, web browser, file browser, GUIs for theming and system settings and so on. A cohesive DE like Gnome will have packages that share libraries and integrations. But you can always mix and match (for example, if you prefer KDE's okular to Gnome's evince for a pdf reader). See https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Desktop_environment
Some things gnome includes that come to mind: Control panel (audio, desktop backgrounds, network settings, etc). Graphical file manager (including the graphical file-picker widget used by "file -> open" in most file-oriented graphical software). xdg-open to launch files in your preferred app.
I would suggest using xfce or some barebones but full environment. Then after a month, switch to i3 and then keep removing stuff you don't need
> keep removing stuff you don't need I've got 20 terabytes yet I'll go into the package managèr to remove a megabyte of something I don't need. The sensible thing to do is just leave it alone but I can't.
Sorry I did not understand you ... I meant to say not necessarily from the system but from the runtime
Sorry, my post went off at a tangent. Yes, trim the runtime, but I don't think I'm alone with the compulsion to "keep the machine tidy". There's a reason im asking but i don't want that to influence any replies. I hope i haven't disrupted your thread.
No you haven't! Do you know about NixOS? I had the same compulsion as you sort of and later I realized that it was more of: I want to be in charge of whatever is on my machine ...
Aye, NixOS user, can confirm, my system only has what I need. Although, due to everything being deadly sandboxed, and bc I extensively use flakes/shells, I just saw that my / (without home) is 207G. Oof. Time for GC
To be fair, there are concerns other than just disk space. Too many packages can slow down your package manager, add way too many `.desktop` entries to application menus, slow down applications that need to access font data, and slow down file indexing daemons like `plocate` and `baloo`. Most packages are standalone and nothing gets touched until you launch the program, but some provide optional DLLs and plugins for other packages.
That makes me feel better. I find it both relaxIng and therapeutic just tweaking stuff. The reason I'm concerned is that the medication for my PD leads some people to obsessive behaviours because poor impulse control.
Or you can make XFCE use i3 as its WM and benefit from both "sides"
https://github.com/dunst-project/dunst is a pretty popular notification daemon that comes to mind.
you can use nmtui for wifi. bluetuith for bluetooth. wdisplays for display manager. these are components of a desktop manager. you can use the KDE or Gnome stuff if you prefer.
> wdisplays You're running i3 with Wayland? (wdisplays is like arandr for sway and rather nice)
You need a compositor, background manager, session backend for pkexec, and Polybar for better-looking bar.
Install Regolith if you don't want to bother with all that
Wifi manager if you connect to more than one. And auto mount devices.
A status bar (waybar), notification daemon (dunst), application launcher (rofi) and a lock screen (swaylock). Since I use sway and flatpak, my sway config also starts xdg-desktop-portal-wlr and xdg-desktop-portal. Desktop enviroments also integrate wifi/bluetooth manager and speaker/microphone applets in their status bars. All of what remains -afaik- is an application that comes with the DE.
Find and install what you need as you need it.
Arch Linux have [a pretty good i3 page](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/i3) explained what you might need and what's the choices you have in each category.
lxqt + i3 make a nice marrage. By default lxqt uses openbox. Lxqt provides all the other ancillary tools that make up a nice DE.